Housing

The place where you lay your head and raise your family has always told a lot about who you are and how you have chosen to raise your family. It is not any different with the nation of the Chickasaw people. After researching this they mainly had two different types of housing and had three council houses, which are the hub of activity for the nation. I have only highlighted two of the council houses. The family housing and the council houses were based on the needs of the family and the climate that they were residing in.

The families resided in two types of housing. The summer and winter houses housed the extended family. Much thought was put into the houses. The people would be able to defend the houses if needed through little portholes that you as an outsider could not see but inside they were clearly visible.


Summer House 1

The houses were rectangular and were constructed of pitch-pine, dried honey locust, and sassafras to maintain the durability of the house. Many Chickasaws owned a fowl house, a corn house as well as a winter house. Many people were in the tribe. This could up to two hundred families. If each had a four buildings this would make for a very large settlement and order would be needed.


Winter House

The first council house intrigued me it was the mountain house. This house was important to the people because this is where everyday decisions for the tribe were made before the removal in the “Trail of Tears”.


Mountain Council House

It was also much larger then the winter and summerhouses and thus had many more functions. This council house contained many things such as couches and small benches. This is a special place to the Chickasaw people. In this house is the Pontotoc Creek Treaty was signed on October 20, 1832. This treaty made just about six million acres of once Chickasaw land belong to the United States.

The most recent council house was in operation until 1970. It was originally built in 1898. It was the hub of activity until it was taken over by Johnston County as its courthouse in 1907 at which time the Chickasaw nation was forced to leave the building. The nation was forced to be repurchase the building and they finished paying for it in 1989 at which time it was put on the National register of historic buildings and made into a museum for the people of the Chickasaw nation.



By Elizabeth Strickland

Works Cited

“Housing.” www.chickasaw.net. May, 18 2010.
“Summerhouse.” www.chickasaw.net. May, 18 2010.
“Mountain House.” www.chickasaw.net. May, 18 2010.
“Council House #3.” www.chickasaw.net. May, 18 2010.